JUSTICE

“The war of discrediting information has started in Georgia,” said businessman Badri Patarkatsishvili. This statement was issued after the Prosecutor’s Office made public an audio-recording of a conversation between Patarkatsishvili and Irakli Kodua, the head of the Special Operative Department within the Internal Ministry. Patarkatsishvili’s election staff published their own audio and video recordings in response to the Prosecutor’s Office. Their materials reveal how Patarkatsishvili’s bodyguards searched Kodia before meeting with the businessman.

The
pre-election meetings of Levan Gachechiladze, presidential candidate of
the United Public Movement, with the citizens of Samegrelo ended in an
incident. After Chkhorotsku and Tsalenjikha the government tried to
provoke the dispersal of peaceful manifestation using the activists of
the National Movement in Zugdidi. Unlike October 28, when the leaders
of the United Opposition were beaten, new faces appeared at the
demonstration on December 26th, but at the backstage Georgian
celebrities were seen.

Vakhtang Inasaridze and Nika Didishvili have been treating at Tbilisi Hospital # 1 for 49 days already. Exactly 48 days have passed since November 7, the day when officially announced rubber bullets but in fact the wounds from unidentified gun, has put those men in the hospital. The dispersal is still much spoken about, however during election campaign politicians seem to have forgotten that many people have become victims of November 7. These people are recalling what they have personally witnessed on that day.

The whereabouts of twenty-three-year-old Shota Mamukishvili and twenty-one-year-old Mishiko Javakhishvili, inhabitants of the village of Shilda in Kvareli district is still unidentified. They were last seen by family members on July 11. Since that the only information they received is that missing people went hunting and lost their ways in the street. Finally it turned out that boys were arrested by Russian frontiers for illegal crossing of border.

On September 12 2007 Shida Kartli and Mtskheta-Mtianeti Regional Prosecutor’s Office provided population with false information. Davit Sakvarelidze, the Prosecutor, stated at the briefing that they had detained director of the “Galavani 2007 Ltd”. They said that the Ltd belonged to the father-in-law of Vasil Makharashvili, the governor. However, later it was found out that it was owned by a Gori resident Irakli Meladze. The name of the father-in-law of the former governor is Nikoloz Mchedlidze.

Manana Macharashvili, a Signagi resident, is going to
start a hunger strike in front of the Georgian Parliament and in case
nobody will pay attention to her she will commit suicide. The governor
of the Signagi municipality, the deputy governor of Kakheti and other
officials forced Macharashvili and a businessmen to sell their
commercial property in Signagi to an investor. The sale and purchase of
the estate happened at midnight. Macharashvili was taken to a notary
office with force and law enforcement officials made her sign away her
property rights.

The Human Rights Centre demands the start of a criminal
case against the President and the Minister of Internal Affairs. The
Centre has obtained evidence indicating that the government has
committed a crime. These facts are depicted in the report “One Week of
Violence” issued by the Centre. The presentation of the report was
held on December 19.

Zviad Abuseridze was injured in a car accident in Samsun, Turkey on December 13 of last year. Ever since he has been chained to his bed and is in need of an immediate operation abroad. His family cannot afford his operation and demands the driver to be held responsible.

Last week, judge Merab Kozmava of the Kutaisi Civil
Court finished the discussions on the criminal case against Irakli
Ghudunidze. Ghudunidze was charged under article 177, paragraph II-a
and paragraph III-a, c of the Georgian Criminal Code. He was accused of
stealing various belongings of Leila Giorgadze; the total value of the
stolen goods amounted to 1500 lari.

Does the detention of Mzia Gadelia’s son have any connection with the presidential ballot?

Mzia Gadelia, chairwoman of the Senaki office of the Conservative Party, accuses Guram Misabishvili, the municipality governor, and Besik Marmania, the Chairman of the Municipality Board, of persecuting and blackmailing her. Gadelia claimed that after the government failed to bribe her, initially her son and then she was detained. Akaki Gadelia serves his term at Zugdidi Prison # 4; Mzia Gadelia herself was released after having paid a 400 lari administrative charge. Despite the seventeen-year-long struggle as an oppositionist and undergone persecution, the leader of the party does not intend to resign in exchange for her son’s freedom.

The Public Defender has requested Zurab Adeishvili, the Prosecutor General of Georgia to launch a preliminary investigation into the excessive use of force on November 7 and illegal activities of policemen. There was no legal necessity to use rubber bullets to disperse the people in front of the parliament, in Rike and in the area surrounding TV Company “Imedi”.

Shota Gorgadze has filed an appeal with the Supreme Council of Justice based on the actions of the Batumi Civil Court, which sent Gorgadze's appeal late to the Court of Appeals. Gorgadze’s appeal had been at the Batumi Civil Court since November 9.